1996
by Matt.Burton
Summary: Following the resignation of his friend and mentor Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs takes charge of the MCRT out of the Washington navy yard. While navigating the ropes of NCIS in the aftermath of the Khobar Towers bombing Gibbs must learn to work with recent additions to his team, a former senators aide and a former CIA agent, while tracking down a Hezbollah terrorist.
1. Prologue

Only the white base coat of paint stuck to the drywall, the newly installed windows still covered with the manufacturers logo imprinted tape and plastic as what was to become the central hub of NCIS for operations across the globe took shape. The construction was barely complete and the employees of the civilian organization had not had time to unpack when I.T. and laborers made it their business to get televisions set up throughout the office, at least one screen per cubicle enclosure. Formerly exiled to working out of temporary trailers set up near the outer edge of the construction site or auxiliary buildings the planned move in date had been marred by catastrophe.

Access to stable telephone lines clear of intermittent static and internet connectivity were luxuries that could not necessarily be made readily accessible but none the less the agents that had been assigned to take up shop in the new headquarters of NCIS made do with what they had. Intelligence and law enforcement networks alike were abuzz with the latest news, and nothing but. All their screens tuned into the same news feed the agents and analysts looked on as smoke bellowed from building #131, a housing building in use by the United States Air Force in Khobar, Saudi Arabia that was remarkably still standing despite the entire face having been ravaged by explosives of unknown origin or composition. Occasionally aerial shots were displayed, showing the massive crater which had formed beneath the truck responsible.

Left sprawled open to a page on female GI of the month a copy of Sniper Monthly had been relegated to one side of the desk in use by NCIS special agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Still the Marine gunny at heart which had transferred to the reserves in order to join then-NIS four years the agent's hair style gave away his military past and his stone cold stare emanated from his collected mindset, experienced in war and combat as he witnessed the news unfold, unphased by the destruction.

The junior counterpart of what was now a two man team since the reassignment of a third agent to Hawai'i Leroy Jethro Gibbs, preferably addressed as Gunny or simply Gibbs did what he could to get a grasp on the situation transpiring a world away as he waited to take direction from supervisory agent Mike Franks. Any attempt to contact another agent as near as Norfolk was hindered by the on-going installation that rendered the fancy new office phones, with as many buttons as a PC keyboard, useless. The mobile phone, a Motorola international 8700 that had been issued to the Major Case Response Team out of the Navy yard, was somewhere beneath the magazine provided easy, convenient contact with the outside world but the technologically backwards agent avoided it like the plague. Gibbs, who even after using it on a daily basis did not know who or what Windows '95 was, openly admitted to dunking the phone like a basketball into his waste basket and smacking it to try and achieve desired reception on more than a few occasions. As he awaited the return of Franks from ATAC the agent relied on his own knowledge of terrorist activities in the middle east, Iran's alleged questionable activity and his gut to form his own preliminary threat assessment.

Their desks set back to back in the spacious cubicle that led him to believe their team was to be expanded Gibbs' file folders and sheets of paper spilled from the top of his own work station to that of his supervisors as he performed the leg work that would be of unheard of from him in the years to come. Connecting the dots that Franks had long ago hinted to Gibbs realized he was on to something just as two heightened voices, one of them unmistakeably Franks, emanated from above near the reinforced hatch to ATAC on the outer edge of the floor above.

"Franks!" an authoritative female voice could be heard, calling after the team leader. "We're not done here."

"Oh, yeah, we are," the familiar accent of southern born Franks shot back, making a hastened walk towards the two tiered stair case which descended behind the bullpen. "For two months I've been warning SecNav, warning you, warning the Director. Their blood is on your hands, not mine."

"We have calls queued with our Middle Eastern desk and OSI, and you are the point agent in Washington," 'acting' Assistant Director Whitney Sharp persisted, her shoulder length highlighted brown hair bobbing along with her stride as she chased after Franks, stopping one step above him mid-descent.

Be it his yet to be explained displeasure or general dislike of female agents, notably those with the slightest authority over himself, Agent Franks held a finger in the air in front of him to rudely silence her. Stopping just long enough to reply, "They're not my problem anymore" and ending with a disparaging, "Good day, madame acting assistant director."

Recruited four years ago and having worked with him since the more junior agent knew how to read his boss and right away could tell that something had riled up Franks to the point of a near-meltdown. Gibbs rose from his desk and met with Franks as he completed his descent, saying nothing while waiting for Franks to speak.

At first it appeared as the two men would be relegated to a staring contest as Franks initially said nothing, pausing in place and looking over the fellow Marine-turned-agent from head to toe. Finally, without warning, Agent Franks unlatched his holstered P226 from his belt and removed his credentials from his left breast pocket, handing both of them over to his partner.

"Don't screw the pooch, Probie," Mike Franks offered his last words of encouragement to Gibbs, glancing scornfully up at an observing Sharp before walking towards the distant elevator, away from his team and away from NCIS.

"Semper Fi, boss," Gibbs said, his words falling on no ears in particular as he just stood and watched Franks disappear around the corner, taking in the significance of the career changing sixty seconds which had just transpired.

"Looks like you're up, Gunny," Sharp intruded the agent's thoughts without hesitation. Whether it was out of necessity or confidence in Gibbs' abilities she was not sure. "With me," she signaled, already heading back up the staircase.


	2. Chapter 1

Flanked by Directors Sharp and Tom Morrow Agent Gibbs stood behind a row of three bulky CRT computer monitors as data rolled in to be analyzed by their users. The Anti Terrorism Alert Center was a far cry from the technological marvel that would succeed it six years later, the most notable difference being the absence of the floor length display that would dominate the operations hub in years to come. In its place was a bank of eight 30" monitors, each tuned into a specific channel or video feed as necessary. At present each, in some form or another, relayed news and data pertaining to the bombing of the Khobar Towers.

Anderson Cutler, standing at the podium addressing the assembly of agents from NCIS and elsewhere, was the well weathered face of experience. At 61 he had served his agency well before the letters NCIS had been coined having begun his term as a college graduate with the Office of Naval Intelligence in 1965, one year before NIS was commissioned as a separate entity to distinguish itself from the whole of ONI. He had begun to lose his hair at 25 and by 45 it was all but a memory. The first civilian director appointed to helm the agency he had seen the United States Navy and Marine Corps through the Cold War and the likes of Vietnam and the first Gulf War. He had seen it all and it was well known that his old school practices were trying the patience of the White House and his days were numbered, but to Agent Gibbs, he was everything the current climate needed to face the global war on terrorism.

"Initial reports are pointing the finger at Saudi Islamic militants," Andy Cutler continued to address the room after they had been rejoined by Sharp and Gibbs. He had registered the abrupt absence of Agent Franks but, chalking it up to personal experiences with Franks, let it slid to the back of his mind. "Officials on the scene in Khobar and across the region are following up on early leads but we believe al-Qaeda, having been driven into Afghanistan by Saudi Arabia, are the driving force beyond this particular attack."

Flicking through a notebook filled with scribbles pertaining to a five minute old intel report, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Tobias Fornell struck the question, "What about a report that says the Iranians were involved? The FBI has a number of sources pointing the finger at them."

"News travels fast," Director Cutler observed. "I heard the same thing from your director and if the FBI chooses to go in that direction, that's your decision but for now NCIS will be focusing on our own investigation." Crooking his chin up Cutler gave the nod to his subordinates. "Tom."

The agency executive response for intelligence and information sharing EAD Tom Morrow took the floor from where he stood, keeping his share of the operation brief. "Our peers at the CIA have a man named Saed al-Zayed in their custody oversees who they have confirmed to be a middle man with Hezbollah al-Hejaz. Under intense questioning following the attack Mr. al-Zayed gave up the names of two Americans who may have very recent ties to Hezbollah and the planning of the attack."

"Leave it to an attack of this proportion to facilitate inter-agency cooperation," Director Sharp said aside to Gibbs in a hush tone.

"Don't get use to it," Gibbs replied back in kind.

"One of those men is retired Navy lieutenant commander James Owen Lukic, the son of Bulgarian immigrants," EAD Morrow continued just as he accepted a note from one of the analysts seated in front of him. "And as of right now we have confirmed he arrived stateside off of a flight from Riyadh via Heathrow."

"My team will be apprehending the second suspect," Agent Fornell added. "A civilian born to a Saudi banker who came off the same flight. No other apparent ties to Commander Lukic as far as we know."

"Don't let us keep you, Agent Fornell," Cutler said, dismissing the FBI agent and closing rank with Morrow, Sharp and Gibbs so as not to discuss NCIS' internal politics across a room filled with eager prying ears.

"I had planned on assigning Mike Franks to lead the apprehension team for Lukic," Morrow said to the others.

"Mike Franks is no longer with the agency," Sharp disclosed her earlier witness to the untimely departure of their senior agent. While she accepted that such a resignation was a loss to the agency, having butted heads with the chauvinist on many occasions she was not personally discouraged by it.

"That was fast," Cutler mused in his stoic, hardened military manner. "Whitney, feel like going back into the field one last time?"

"Why do I get the impression that's a rhetorical question?" Director Sharpe responded with her own rhetoric.

"Take Agent Gibbs," Cutler instructed with a nod in the agents direction. "I'll have Vera Strickland's team back you up."

Having been aware that Strickland was the former partner of Mike Franks Whitney Sharpe felt like she had gained a heel after only have just lost another, Strickland often having been considered the only female to whom Franks came close to treating as equal. "I'll get my gun out of mothballs," she submitted, taking a piece of paper containing their targets address from one of the analysts.

"I don't need to tell you that we need Lukic alive, Whit," Cutler sternly reminded Sharp while retaining the familiar sense of trust and confidence he long carried for her since he first saw her in action as an undercover agent in West Germany.

"Understood." Signaling Gibbs with a curt nod Sharp headed for the exit. "I need to go to my office. Meet you in the squad room."

"Is this make or break time for Gibbs?" Tom Morrow asked aside to Cutler as their topic of conversation left the room and earshot. "There are a couple of agents who I could think of to give leadership of this team to."

"There's plenty of Franks in him," Cutler replied. "But I remember hearing about his exploits in Desert Storm, and in his four years with this agency I've seen some damn good stuff from that man. He was born for counter-terrorism."

"We'll see," Morrow replied with skepticism.


End file.
